The History: UNCUT!

I'd been missing the arts center closest to my darling alma mater, and in my nostalgia nearly overlooked this weekend's performance: Hofesh Shechter Company!

No, it's not local fare. And I'm not unashamed to be swept up in celebrity! But in the end, this company is part of a heritage I think is invaluable to understanding dance. And God knows ya can't talk about modern dance, in LA or elsewhere, without mentioning Martha Graham. She's this company's grandmama! So let's get a little history lesson going, shall we?, before tomorrow night's review. And like the totally gross tap water coming out of the kitchen sink these days, here you have it sans filter. (I'll post the cliff notes tomorrow.)

If you're not practicing elaborate yoga poses to do your daily blog-browsing, kindly sit up (or stand up) straight. Find that center-of-gravity spot somewhere near your navel. Exhale and make it the target for an imaginary sucker punch: oof! Now inhale and puff back up like a balloon.

Congratulations on a very simplified version of contraction and release! Many of the modern dancemakers (a word I'll never decide how to type) of the early 20th century based their movement on dynamic opposites - contraction and release, fall and recovery, and so on. It all gets back to exhale and inhale. And this wasn't just breaking away from the upright rigidity of ballet! With this new language, dance began responding to breath - one of the most telling involuntary functions of the body.

This trait is so ubiquitous in contemporary dance history that it's easy to take for granted. But look! Performance technology has evolved so far as to have breath define the very music of the performance!

I digress.

Contraction and release are the underlying physical idea in the work of Martha Graham. (Okay, so I linked the PSA. Americans for the Arts was really on to something!) To make a long, amazing career into a sentence of accomplishments: Graham ushered in one of the most explicit dynamic contrasts in modern dance, fostered the early careers of countless influential dancers - including you-know-who, worked with iconic composers and artists - including this one, locals - made dances about fierce women, American-ism, and those crazy Greeks, and, perhaps most importantly, created one of my favorite pieces of modern dance, "Steps in the Street." The overtly political response to fascism in 1930's Europe has more stick-it-to-the-man-itiveness than a Rage album on repeat, and I'd dare say with more tension by its poise.

Which is why I'm hoping that Hofesh Shechter's "Uprising" carries on the family legacy. You see, in the 1960's Martha Graham helped establish a group in Tel Aviv called Batsheva Dance Company. (It was named after its philanthropic baroness co-founder - thanks, Wiki!) This is now one of the world's most influential and pertinent sources for dance equal parts physical, emotional, and cerebral. It even furthers the breath patterns by "gaga" training, engaging equally natural, less apparent impulses of the body.

Shechter danced with Batsheva for years before creating his ensemble. Remembering "Steps in the Street," I'm hesitant to expect as much from "Uprising." The 2006 youth riots in France were terrifying, to be sure, but seem somewhat isolated as source material. At any rate, that's what we're up for: "Uprising," and a piece called "In your rooms" that will indulge my taste for dances about frustration.

Wait, you haven't seen the event site yet? Here.

I look forward to the performance.